RECENT WATCHES: Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996)

One presumes that Universal gave the green light to two direct-to-video “Darkman” sequels because the original was a popular rental in video stores. Yet, if that was the case, I do wonder why they waited so long. The “Darkman” sequels were filmed back-to-back in 1993. For whatever reason, the sequels weren’t released for several more years. “Darkman III: Die Darkman Die” — which is, admittedly, an utterly brilliant subtitle — wouldn’t come out until 1996, a full six years after the original movie was in theaters. I would imagine any hype must’ve died down by that point. Though made by the same crew, “Darkman III” is something of an improvement over the second one.

Darkman continues his quest from the shadows, to perfect his synthetic skin formula and occasionally fight crime. He crosses paths with Peter Rooker, a drug kingpin obsessed with making himself stronger. After seeing Darkman wipe the floor with his goons, he concocts a scheme to capture the hero and create a powerful steroid from his blood. He teams up with one of the doctors who initially performed surgery on Dr. Peyton Westlake’s nerves and she turns out to be a psychopath totally willing to go along with things. He’ll then use his superpowered henchman to murder the city’s new mayor, who promises to crack down on crime. Darkman’s research is stolen and, using his face-swiping technology, goes undercover in the villain’s life and begins to grow attached to the man’s wife and daughter.

As I pointed out last time, director Bradford May has largely worked on television, aside from these films or the odd cage-fighting movie. Narratively, “Die Darkman Die” feels like a couple of hour-long scripts cobbled together into a feature film. Darkman having his ability to feel pain restored by a baddie, falling in love with a crime boss’ wife, and preventing superpowered enemies from assassinating a mayoral candidate all easily could’ve been episodes of a show. The film even begins with Voosloo summarizing his origin story, via narration, that feels a lot like the opening of a TV show. (A pilot for a “Darkman” show was produced in 1992 but never picked up, making me wonder if I’m onto something here...) Despite its episodic elements, “Die Darkman Die” feels far more cinematic than its predecessor. May attempts some Raimi-like P.O.V. shots and some moments of Darkman swooping dramatically out of the darkness. There’s even an inspired moment during one of Darkman’s psychedelic freak-outs, were the gangster’s wife is dressed as a saint and attacked by a human-headed snake.

More importantly, the second sequel doesn’t just emulate the original’s plot with a bunch of lazy retcons. It actually delves into Darkman’s personality somewhat. First off, taking away Darkman’s inability to feel pain – his primary superpower – is an interesting challenge to the character, even if it ends up only occupying a short period of the film. Secondly, I like the subplot of him developing feelings for Rooker’s wife. The movie puts too fine a point on it by having Westlake, in disguise as Rooker, watch his daughter’s school production of “Beauty and the Beast.” Yet it’s an interesting idea, leaning into Darkman’s outsider/monster status and his desire for belonging and love. The film’s conclusion, were he makes a selfless sacrifice that seemingly completes his character arc by having him accept his own monsterdom, is about as good as you can expect from a direct-to-video sequel.

“Die Darkman Die” also earns points for giving its superhero a proper supervillain to fight, even if the film takes it time building up to that. Rooker is a ruthless leader of his criminal empire, nearly as impressive as Larry Drake was in the first film. Jeff Fehey brings a surprising amount of wit and style to the part, memorably nefarious. After Rooker inevitably injects himself with the steroid, Fehey’s performance goes delightfully over-the-top, the actor cackling like a madman. Though the action scenes in the film are overall a bit on the bland side, this fight is certainly one of the sequel’s better moments. Rooker also gets dispatched in an amusingly grisly fashion, a satisfying end to such a nasty guy. (I also couldn’t help but notice Nigel Bennet, “Forever Knight’s” LaCroix, as Rooker’s sidekick.)

Don’t get the wrong impression. “Die Darkman Die” is certainly not on the level of Raimi’s original. May’s direction still isn’t great. A sequence involving a rocket launcher is pretty bad. The pacing is surprisingly slow for an 87 minute movie, seemingly taking forever to set up and then pay off the various plot points. Voosloo is still only a simply adequate replacement for Liam Neeson. But this is at least a lot better than the first attempt at a sequel. Considering how superhero crazy our world currently is, I’m surprised there’s never been talks of rebooting or remaking “Darkman.” (Raimi owning the character, and having some say in how he’s used, is probably a big factor in that.) It would be a second chance for the great original to spawn a worthy franchise. Anyway, the point of this review is: If you're going to see one shitty “Darkman” sequel, see “Darkman III: Die Darkman Die.”  [6/10]